Rainbow at shoreline

The Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association, a 501(c)3 founded in 1985, exists to meet the needs of patients with ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) or FM (Fibromyalgia), their families and loved ones. The Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association works to educate health-care providers and the general public regarding these severely-disabling physical illnesses. We also support patients and their families and advocate for more effective treatment and research.

Byron Hyde, M.D. was the featured speaker at the Massachusetts CFIDS/ME & FM (Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Fibromyalgia) Association's October 27, 2012, lecture. His topic was “Why Doctors Can’t Diagnose and What Tests Should be Considered.”

Videos of Dr. Hyde's talk are now posted  on YouTube. YouTube links are on a private channel and can be accessed from the direct links; the videos are not searchable on YouTube:


A written summary of this lecture is now available at Dr. Byron Hyde 2012 Fall Lecture Summary.

Dr. Hyde, an internationally recognized ME/CFIDS physician and researcher, is one of the few physicians worldwide whose practice has consisted solely of the study and treatment of ME and CFS patients since 1984. He is the founder of the Nightingale Research Foundation, Ottawa, Canada (www.nightingale.ca), which is dedicated to the study and treatment of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and related illnesses.

One of the biggest issues for patients is getting a physician to RUN tests, then having them KNOW what the results mean, and finally what to try for TREATMENT.  Dr. Hyde has a long history of international research expertise in ME, known in the U.S. as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or CFIDS. His interest also extends to Fibromyalgia-type illnesses. He will explore the reasons physicians aren’t able to do their jobs, the patient suffering as a result, and which tests would point the physician in the correct direction.

In 1984, Dr. Hyde switched from family practice medicine to the study of post-infectious Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. He travelled around the world for five years investigating ME epidemics and has a command of all the incarnations of various names of this illness going as far back as Florence Nightingale, for which his foundation was named. While many physicians in North America were unaware of ME, England had an established diagnostic criteria for ME. In 1992, in collaboration with leading ME/CFS authorities, Dr. Hyde published the first, comprehensive medical textbook about ME and CFS, The Clinical and Scientific Basis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Today, the Nightingale Research Foundation’s priorities are individual patient-based research with total body/brain investigation of ME and CFS patients, as well as the development of a sophisticated database to consolidate these findings for analysis and publication.

Notice about names

The Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association would like to clarify the use of the various acronyms for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Chronic Fatigue & Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) and  Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) on this site. When we generate our own articles on the illness, we will refer to it as ME/CFS, the term now generally used in the United States. When we are reporting on someone else’s report, we will use the term they use. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal agencies, including the CDC, are currently using ME/CFS. 

Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association changed its name in July, 2018, to reflect this consensus.